


School Stinks

by Yemi Hikari (Yemi_Hikari)



Series: Fanfic Friday [7]
Category: Bleach
Genre: Awkward Crush, Back to School Contest, Contest Entry, F/M, Gen, Japanese School System, Middle School, fanfic friday
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-05
Updated: 2014-09-11
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:41:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 14,988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25117072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yemi_Hikari/pseuds/Yemi%20Hikari
Summary: Toshiro's mentally out of it after the war with the Quincy. Due to the fact he has had little interaction with his age group Ukitake and Kyoraku end up coming up with the idea that he should interact with the Kurosaki twins and their classmates in hopes that the boy will end up resolving certain aspects of his psychological issues but it is honestly also a gamble.
Relationships: Hitsugaya Toushirou & Kurosaki Isshin, Hitsugaya Toushirou & Matsumoto Rangiku, Hitsugaya Toushirou/Kurosaki Karin
Series: Fanfic Friday [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1818250
Kudos: 6
Collections: (Prompts) Fanfic Friday





	1. This Stinks

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer - I don't own Bleach. This was written for Fanfic Friday's Back to School Contest. The goal was to write a story or one-shot collection between five to ten parts based on the prompt list.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Five: Write a chapter in which a character learns something unexpected.

Toshiro's hands played with the string in his hand making various shapes from the loop. His small mouth pushed together as his focus remained on the string in his hand and ignored everything else around him. A soft breeze blew through the window bringing with it a calming sent. He didn't notice Rangiku let out a disgruntled sound from having to do the paperwork and instead kept his focus on the string.

A hand gently brushed a strand of hair away from his forehead indicating she had moved from the desk to kneeling beside the couch he was lying on. "Hey? Why don't we go and do something together? Let's get you out of this stuffy office. The way you're acting worries me."

Toshiro's fingers stopped maneuvering the string and his mouth pushed deeper into a frown. Prior to the war with the Quincies he would have pushed her hand away and have chewed the strawberry haired woman out for treating him like a child as if she was his mother. " _It doesn't feel bad, being comforted like this. Still... I don't want to go and do something._ "

The child taicho went back to playing with his loop made of string. "Taicho?" Despite the fact she was trying to get his attention he continued to play the string games. "I'm going to the first division now to talk to the head captain Kyraku and Ukitake Taicho. Please behave yourself. If someone tells you that you need to eat, then go ahead and eat. I'll see you when you get back."

How much time passed he honestly did not know, but the door slid back open and a trey was set down on the table next to him. "You should eat Hitsugaya Taicho. You've lost a lot of weight."

More time passed and he heard Rangiku's voice indicating she was back. "What happened to eating your food?" The woman sat on the floor next to him and brushed his white hair away from his forehead. "I need to back your bags. You and I are being sent on a mission to the world of the living."

Toshiro sat up while still fiddling with the string in his hands while swinging his feet off the couch. "What is the mission?"

"Could you please look me in the eye Taicho so I know you're paying attention?"

" _She knows I hate looking people in the eye._ "

He still complied and when he did she explained their mission to him. "You and I are tasked with taking a survey of the class Kurosaki's sisters are in to try and figure out which ones have spiritual pressure and which ones can see Shinigami. You're going to be added as a student in their class for a week or so."

Two bright teal eyes widened, a look of horror spreading across the child's face. "In case of an emergency."

"That's not..." Toshiro looked at the ground, swallowing as he did so.

"Do you want me to pack your bag for you?" When he didn't reply she got up and left, speaking over her shoulder as she did so. "I'll come back to get you."

" _Why? I've already graduated from Soul Reaper academy. Pretending to be a high school student was bad enough. I don't like this._ " This eyes narrowed as his zampaktuo spirit suddenly lectured him about maturity.

Rangiku got back with two bags swung over her shoulder and touched his lightly to get his attention. "Time to go." The corner of his mouth twisted up slightly wishing there was some way to escape all of this. "I'm glad there is life in your eyes again."

" _Yeah, well... I think being turned into a zombie and tortured by a mad scientist would do that to a person, don't ya think?_ " Toshiro folded his arms across his chest and followed the woman. " _Come on... I've never been able to get along with people of similar age. It's not that I don't try hard enough. Social interactions simply aren't my strong point, particularly when I have to deal with the immaturity of my age group._ "

They arrived in living world near Urahara's shop so that they could in fact get their gigai so that they could walk around the world of the living and be seen by humans while there. She started to give more instructions to him. "Tonight we'll spend the night at Orihime's place and tomorrow you can start your first day of school." The woman paused as she realized he was scowling at her. "What ever is the matter?"

"Isn't there an easier way to do this?" The boy's eyes darted away suddenly. " _Like a way I could have limited interaction with people and go back to what I was doing._ "

"What do you mean? You have to observe the people in the class to determine who can see Shinigami or not as well as sense what kind of spiritual pressure they have."

"Yes. But I don't have to be a student in the class to do that." Toshiro turned and flash stepped away leaving her in her dust. Upon arriving at the junior high he felt out Karin's spiritual pressure as that would tell him which classroom she was in. On his way to the classroom he passed by the offices where her twin Yuzu was coming out with papers. The girl didn't notice and he followed after her.

When she opened the door to the classroom he slipped in. The girl handed the papers to the teacher and went to take a seat. The teacher of course didn't notice the Shinigami dressed in the front room, but some of the students in fact did. One of them was of course Kurosaki Karin. The girl's violet eyes suddenly widened, not at all pleased with the fact he had shown up out of the blue like that. He simply stood their, watching the reactions of the students.

A boy with freckles raised his hand. "Sensei?"

The man paused his writing on the board, all pleased at his lesson being interrupted. "What is it Hashigami-kun?"

"There is a kid standing next to you dressed in a black kimono and a white coat. He's also got a sword on his back."

The chalk on the board suddenly broke just as Karin choose to look out the window instead of at Toshiro. "Excuse me?"

The small taicho watched as some of the students began to laugh and note that there was no one there while other students looked around nervously trying to figure out what the joke was all about. Others squinted at him as if trying to make out what the object happened to be. He could also hear Karin's friends chuckling to themselves about how Toshiro had played a really cool prank, only for one of them to squint at him in confusion, indicating that he could see something but not make it out.

A sudden chill ran down his spine and his teal eyes darted over to where Karin was sitting and noticed that she was looking right at him and wasn't at all happy with him. He swallowed, not at all sure what he had done wrong as he had simply been wanting to get the mission done and over with so he could go home. She raised her hand and told the teacher that she had another one of her headaches so she was going to go and get some fresh air.

The dark haired girl walked past him and he couldn't help but feel nervous. The fact she had kicked a soccer ball at his head in the past when she was angry at him crossed his mind. He slipped out of the classroom and let her close the door. They then headed up to the roof where he watched her go over to the edge and take a deep breath. She then turned to him, anger in her eyes. "What the hell do you think you were doing Toshiro?"

He narrowed his eyes at the girl. "I was told that we were to observe your classmates and discern if your spiritual pressure has effected them in a similar manner to how you brother's effected his classmates. The idea was to observably see whether they showed spiritual pressure as well as how well they could see me."

The girl's violet eyes widened and she swallowed. Her hand smacked across his cheek, causing his hand to reach up and touch the stinging stinging. His eyes widened with shock as she went off on him. "You idiot! That's the reason why you came into my class and embarrassed me like that! I trusted you! I thought you _knew_ that I didn't want anyone to know what I could see ghosts! Yet there you went walking into my classroom making an idiot of yourself! You're such a jerk!"

"I'm sorry..." The boy looked away, his eyes darting to the ground.

"Sorry?" Karin's voice strained. "I get my stupid friend not thinking, but you of all people?"

"... _my stupid friends... she didn't label me as a friend..._ " Panic raced through Toshiro's mind about her not considering him a friend. "Wait... we're _not_ friends?"

The girl opened her mouth to say something only to have someone else interrupt her before she could say something. "Taicho!" Rangiku flash step onto the roof. "I just had to modify the memories of everyone in that classroom!" The woman reached out with her hands and began to pull on his cheeks.

"Matsumoto... stop it." The boy muttered, his one cheek already sore from Karin slapping him.

"You walked into this one taicho! I've not felt the need to do this since you ranked up from third seat to captain rank! I am so mad at you! Actually, I am _really_ fed up with you and the fact you've been avoiding people and only doing things because you were ordered to do so."

Toshiro's hands reached up to pull her hands away. "You're not the only one fed up with things! You and everyone else know full well what happened to me during the war with the Quincy! What's wrong with me wanting to stay home? The sooner we get this mission done, the sooner we can go home!"

"So you're turning into a hikikomori?" Karin rolled her eyes.

"A what?" Toshiro blinked a couple of times.

"A shut in Toshiro."

"Is it so bad of a thing?" The boy looked away. "Can we please go home?"

"Home? I don't think so!" Rangiku snapped, causing the boy to flinch.

"I've finished the mission. I've identified those with spiritual pressure and those that can see me. What else do we need?" Toshiro's shoulder flinched suddenly.

"Besides the fact you need _names_ of all things there is the fact the whole point of sending you on this mission wasn't to get information but to get you to interact with those around your age! That and get you out of the offices where all you've been doing is playing string games the past couple of weeks!"

The temperature on the roof suddenly dropped and Toshiro's eyes twitched. "Say what?"

The corner of Rangiku's mouth twitched as she realized she had been caught. "You weren't supposed to find out."

The temperature dropped even more as his arms crossed his chest. "Matsumoto... you had no business butting in like this!"

"So Ukitake and Kyoraku Taicho had no business butting in either?"

"You're not my mother and they are not my fathers... uncles... what ever!"

"I am your mother!" The woman snapped.

Toshiro's eyes widened and he let out a short laugh. "What are you? Delusional?" The woman suddenly gave him a rather hurt look. "I'm sorry Matsumoto. I shouldn't have said that."

"You know... you can be an insensitive little brat at times." The woman's voice lowered followed by an awkward silence.

The bell rang indicating the end of the school day and Karin looked at the side of the building again. "So... what should your punishment be Toshiro?"

"What?"

"I said... what should your punishment be. You walked into my class, completely embarrassed me. You owe me one." The girl turned back with a rather mischievous look on her face.

"I guess I do owe you one for that."

"I want you to help me play a prank on my father." Karin watched as the boy blinked a couple of times.

"On your father?" Toshiro's voice strained.

"Yes... my father."

"I don't have any choice?"

"From the looks of it, no taicho."

Karin pulled out her cellphone and dialed the number on her phone. "Hi dad. I'm want to introduce you to my boyfriend so I'm bringing him by the house."

Toshiro watched as she quickly hung up the phone. "Wait... I don't feel comfortable lying to your dad about that kind of thing."

"He already thinks I'm bringing a guy I'm dating over. One of two things are going to happen. He's either going to embarrass you super bad with his immature antics or he's going to give you the lecture."

"Matsumoto..." The boy turned his head to look at Rangiku.

"Would you rather I tell Ukitake and the head captain about this?" The boy let out a sigh before scuffing the ground at this comment. "Plus... I would love to see either one of these things happen. You didn't exactly make my life easy did you?"

"You also want me to date her..." Toshiro grumbled. "I think he disappears whenever he feels Shinigami rieatsu around."

Karin frowned. "Toshiro... my dad can't see ghosts."

"We'll still hide our spiritual pressure so your nii-chan doesn't interrupt. I want to see what happens when my cute taicho shows up in a gigai to be interrogated by your father." Rangiku's comment caused Toshiro to glare at her which in turn caused her to laugh.

Toshiro felt nervous all the way to Urahara's shop as well as to the Kurosaki household. Karin opened the door and the two stepped in and he honestly wasn't sure what to expect. Of course... what he saw wasn't any of the ideas that had crossed his mind either. He could see the back of her father's head while he sat on the couch. Karin made to reach for his hand, only for him to suddenly feel the man's reaitsu's flare. Rangiku's eyes had to have been as wide as his.

He quickly moved around to the other side of the couch, trying to keep his shock hidden. "You!"

Isshin blinked a couple of times, the angry look on his face suddenly leaving. "Toshiro?"

"Dad... you know Toshiro?"

The man turned to look at his daughter. "You two really aren't dating, are you?"

Karin suddenly bristled. "How the hell would you know that!"

"I know him..." Isshin was interrupted by the small taicho of the tenth going off.

"You! I hate you! I really, really hate you!"

"Toshiro... calm down." The man turned back to look at the exasperated youth.

"You weren't there! You disappeared shoving off your _stupid_ captains duties onto me. To what? Have a bunch of kids? To get married? To forget about us?"

"Kiddo..."

"Don't kiddo me! You of all people know I don't like that!" The boy took a deep breath. Despite this the words began to choke out. "You weren't there! You weren't there when I needed you!"

Rangiku took a deep breath. "Oh dear. This isn't good."

"I ended up dying! I was bleeding out all over the place! I was scared and I couldn't save Rangiku on my own. I couldn't save anybody let alone myself! At one point I wanted to die, but then I wanted to for some reason live! But I ended up dying instead! And you know what happened? I got turned into a zombie! If that wasn't messed up enough I was forced to attack other Shinigami and ended up being one of that stupid idiots experiments! I hate you! I really hate you!"

"Is that all Toshiro?"

"No! I can't focus. I can't stop thinking about what happened. I find myself tired of work though I can't explain why. For some reason Ukitake, Kyoraku and Matsumoto made some kind of plan to get me to watch your daughters class just so I could interact with my age group! I hate it!"

"Hate it is an understatement." Karin snapped. "You walked into the classroom as a Shinigami and caused a major disturbance in our class."

"So?"

"Toshiro?"

"What!"

"I think the uncles are right about you interacting with your own age group."

Toshiro swallowed, looking at his former captain almost as if he was betrayed. "Why?"

"Why do you avoid your normal routine, something that is so out of character for you? The only reason you ever did that was because you realized that something was missing." Isshin reached out and grabbed the front of the boy's shirt and pulled him into a hug. "Also... I'm really sorry that I couldn't be there to protect you."

"If you think I'm going to cry, I'm not going to."

"No... you've grown up enough to date my daughter if you wanted to. That's kind of a shock." Isshin let the boy go. "Still... tomorrow go through with their plan. You may realize there is merit to all of this. Also... you owe Karin an apology."

The boy sighed before bowing towards the girl. "I apologize for my thoughtless actions earlier Kurosaki."

"Apology accepted." Karin looked away.

Isshin looked over his shoulder at the girl, a rather annoyed look on his face. "I need to talk to you privately. And then the lady who is glaring at me murderously as well after that."


	2. Sterotyped

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ten: Write a chapter in which a character narrowly avoids getting in trouble from an authority figure.

Isshin pulled Karin aside to have a conversation with her while Rangiku fumed. When Karin came back she looked a bit frazzled as well as guilty. Rangiku then stepped aside and talked to their former taicho for awhile and came back rather calm. The man then came back and talked to Toshiro that wasn't the typical goofy person he was used to but instead the side of the man that rarely showed through, but that he had always appreciated.

The conversation completely avoided the issue of Toshiro having to attend classes with Karin, or the fact he had felt completely helpless during the situation where he had been turned into a zombie and experimented on. The man instead choose to talk about life as well as the lecture that Karin thought he would have been getting. Isshin pointed out the fact under normal circumstances he would have had to been strict as a father, but not only did he trust Toshiro with both of his girls... the man honestly felt that Toshiro simply needed the talk about the birds and bees.

It wasn't a subject matter Toshiro was comfortable with, but he understood why his taicho wanted to talk to him about said subject. No one else had bothered to do so yet which honestly bothered Isshin and ended up being something else he apologized for. After the talk and Rangiku spending some time with the girls they left, but not before Ichigo came home and found out about the whole thing. The orange haired teen not only found it funny but also already knew that Toshiro was his dad's former third seat.

The choose to stay at Orihime's and Rangiku insisted on dragging him in and preparing him for the first day, mothering him as a mother hen would. He would be on his own when he went and introduced himself to the teachers in the office, something that caused him discomfort. The next morning he awoke to sunlight streaming in and Orihime getting ready to school in front of him, which caused him to hurry into the bathroom with his face a deep red. While he was in the bathroom he overhead Rangiku lecturing Orihime about the appropriateness of the situation.

"I'll just sleep on the roof!" Toshiro snapped as he hurried out of the apartment. He arrived at the school with his face still flushed as he had chosen to run in his gigai. He stood outside of the room where all of the teacher's desks were and peeked in, not at all sure what to think of the situation. A voice from behind caused him to jump. "So you're the new student?"

"Yes..." Toshiro turned to look at the rather stern teacher who pushed up his glasses.

"Come in. We need to talk." The man had him sit in a chair near his desk. "I see you have the school uniform for the first day and your trim and proper, but there is still and issue with the dress code. Your hair is bleached. I expect you to have it dyed before the end of the week."

"Excuse me?" Toshiro felt his throat catch.

"If you don't comply or insist on not complying I will be forced to give you detention until you do."

"You're a moron." The words came out of his mouth without really thinking about them.

"Excuse me?" The man pulled out a slip of paper to begin writing the boy a detention slip.

Toshiro felt the color leave his cheeks. " _I shouldn't have called an adult a moron despite the fact I don't like some of the stupid things adults do._ " He took a deep breath. "Apparently..."

"I don't want excuses from you. Bleaching your hair... calling me a moron... you must be some kind of punk that thinks they can get away with anything."

"Actually... my nephew called you a moron because he was upset about you telling him that he bleaches his hair when it is his natural hair color." Ukitake's voice could be heard from the doorway. Toshiro's hands clenched his pants legs tighter. "It runs in the family. If you don't mind, may I speak to my nephew for a bit to relieve some of his jitters about starting school here please? Particularly after the careless comment you made."

The man stepped out of the room as Toshiro gritted his teeth. "Ukitake... what are you doing here? I can handle things on my own."

"Rangiku told me about what happened yesterday."

The boy spun around, his face turning red. "She promised she wouldn't!"

"What you did was pretty serious. She was more concerned about letting us know you had a run in with Isshin."

"Taicho and I had a very good talk about things last night." The boy looked at him.

"She also admitted she told you the truth about what is going on, that you're not actually on a mission and that you were angry with the three of us."

"Why shouldn't I be? I honestly don't understand the logic of adults some times. This isn't going to work and is going to be ending up a disaster."

"We knew full well it was a gamble when we thought up this idea. Truth of the matter is Rangiku was completely against this but followed the head captains orders."

"If you think it is such a gamble and knew she was against this then why go through with it?"

"To Shunsei and I the gamble is worth it. On one side you would end up getting snapped out of that depression you were sinking deeper and deeper into. On the second time this was a rare chance for us to give you a chance to be your age, to enjoy life."

"I don't interact well with my age group."

"No... you don't. There's also the hope you could learn to interact better, particularly since the peers from your age group are now graduating the academy. There is still a chance for you to find enjoyment in other things."

Toshiro swallowed, before looking at the ground. "I apologize for my actions yesterday. Please tell the head captain as well. I still don't understand why you're here."

"I get to play the role of doddering old uncle." The man's mouth twisted into a big grin.

"You're not senile. You're doing this because you think it is fun."

"I kind of wish you would look at this as a chance to have fun even though we both know it may end up not being that way. Please Shiro-chan?"

Toshiro took a deep sigh and scratched his head. "You're such a hard person to argue with. This said, thank you for getting me out of trouble then. I feel awful enough about my hair and eyes without someone telling me I _have_ to change them. I honestly feel I might be tempted to do just that, and yet Matsumoto tells me to be fine with who I am."

"Take a few deep breaths before entering the classroom. As a new student they're likely to ask you questions and some you will personally find to be quite moronic. Be patient, don't lose your temper. Most of the questions aren't going to be because they want to personally attack you, but because they want to get to know you."

The boy folded his arms across his chest. "I'm not comfortable with that."

"This is something you know you need to learn to step out of your comfort zone on." Toshiro took a deep breath before nodding his head. Ukitake placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Good luck and best wishes young one."

The teacher came back into the room when his "uncle" left and apologized profusely about the allegation he had in fact made. After a bit of time he was led to the class and finally asked to come in. He introduced himself, none to pleased that he would be having to spend his entire day with everyone in the class while at school. "My name is Hitsugaya Toshiro."

The first question was asked of him. "Do you bleach your hair?"

"It's my natural hair color." Toshiro clenched his teeth realizing it would be a long day. " _He was right about moronic questions._ "


	3. Lunch Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two: Write a chapter that takes place in a cafeteria.

The questioning finally finished thanks to the teacher interrupting and Toshiro took the seat he was assigned. Looking around the room he saw that Karin was catty corner to him while Yuzu was a couple of seats away. All of Karin's friends were in the same class as her. A young male he didn't know kept staring at him. It was the boy with the freckles and to be honest the stare was unsettling. He hung his bag on the hook and pulled out a notebook.

He then realized more then just that boy was staring at him, which to him made things even more unsettling. Classes were also he realized quite boring as he knew all of the material that was covered in class and even if it was new to him he found himself figuring it out quickly as well. Teachers came and went as periods passed and it finally came to be around lunch time. The teacher had asked that the class representative show him around and he looked at the meek girl.

Karin sighed. "Toshiro... I'll show you where the school canteen is so that you can purchase your lunch."

Yuzu's head darted up then as the meek looking girl let out a sigh of relief. "Toshiro-kun didn't bring his own lunch?"

"I'll think about it tomorrow. I didn't exactly have times with everything that is going on." Toshiro didn't like the worried look the girl had on her face.

"Don't worry about it. I'll make a lunch for you too and bring it to school for you."

The boy felt the color leave his face. "You don't have to do that."

"You're family, right?" Yuzu looked him straight at the eye, causing him to advert his eye. "I mean, you're like family, so there should be nothing wrong with me treating you like family."

" _I am close to their father, though I have the feeling she is referring to something else... Karin and me._ "

Karin and Yuzu picked up their bentos and headed to the classroom door. Toshiro paused as he felt eyes drilling into his back and looked around to see some of the students looking at him. The boys seemed to have different looks then the looks the girls happened to have. He shook his head and wondered what lunch would be that day as he didn't know what kind of food Karin's school served. Arriving at the small store he found himself frowning. "Lunches aren't served in the class room?"

"Our school is technically a public school so it should be having _kyushoku._ Rumor has it that the school used to have the system in place, but one of the students always did weird things to other students lunches when her group served food and ended up mixing things that didn't work."

"Inoue?"

"Probably. They moved to students putting together their own meals or buying them from the canteen." Karin placed her hands into her pockets. "In reality I think there was never a _kyushoku_ system in place as the teachers advocated the students having more freedom and acting like adults on this matter. This has to do with the food choices they make as well as they choose to eat. Some of course abuse this."

Toshiro bought a sandwich, frowning as he did so. He then followed the two girls out to the courtyard of the school and sat on a bench on them. Karin pulled out her bento. "Care to split your food in half and switch for half of mine?"

"Why?" The boy blinked a couple of times.

"It's actually normal to do this. Plus... it didn't look like you were happy with the choices on the menu."

"I honestly don't like having to make choices about what I eat."

"So you were looking forward to a _kyushoku_ system Toshiro-kun?"

"Yeah. I think I was." Toshiro worked on splitting the food in half while Karin worked on hers. " _Truth be told that's how we did it at the division canteen. We would be served by a group of people or Rangiku would bring me food. She planned out all the menus as well. I guess that's why I never complained about her lack of working on paper work that much. I guess I find myself appreciating her a lot more._ "


	4. P.E. Stinks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eight: Write a chapter in which a character skips class to do something they consider more productive.

Toshiro headed back to the classroom with the Kurosaki twins, his hands in his pockets. He slipped back into his desk and paused as he realized he was being stared at again. This caused his shoulders to tense up. His pencil began to scratch out the next part of the lesson. After the history lesson Karin tapped his shoulder. "Physical education is next. We need to go and change into our P.E. uniforms."

The boy blinked a couple of times before standing up, his hands going into his pockets again in a nervous manner. He followed behind Karin, only to have her stop short near the locker room. She pointed with her finger in another direction. "The guys change over there."

"Thanks..." He muttered before stepping into the locker room. He couldn't stand the smell of the place, the smell causing the corner of his mouth twist up. " _And this is the other reason I don't like guys my age. They can't clean up after themselves._ " He took his clean uniform and headed into one of the bathroom stalls in the locker room to change, not please with the fact that place smelled as well. " _This is completely unsanitary._ "

He pulled his shirt up and saw the scars that crossed his stomach, causing him to lean against the cold door. " _That's the real reason I'm in here changing. The last thing I want to do is try and think up an explanation of how I came to have these scars._ " There came a pause in thought. " _I also don't like changing in front of anybody..._ "

" _You could try saying you were in a car accident, which is also why you were out of school for the beginning of this school year. Remember, you didn't answer the question of where you were from._ " Hyorinmaru spoke up in the back of his head. Toshiro let out a sigh and hurried to change, planning on heading simply to his locker. He stopped short upon seeing a familiar face with red hair.

"You are..." Toshiro blinked a couple of times. " _I know I've seen this guy before._ "

The guy poked his finger into Toshiro's chest. "You know who I am? I'm Hanakari Jinta from Urahaha's shop."

"Oh... you." Toshiro looked at the boy, realizing that he had gotten taller. He suddenly swallowed. " _That so isn't fair! I've been wanting a growth spurt for a long time now and he goes and has a growth spurt in a year to two. He's gone from being shorter then me to taller then me!_ "

"Oh you?" The corner of the boy's mouth twitched. "I saw you eating lunch with Princess Yuzu. You even got to eat one of her lunch."

"Princess? What is..." Toshiro felt the corner of his own mouth twitch as he wasn't sure where things were going.

"I'm not going to settle for you being another rival for her affections."

"Affections..." Something clicked in Toshiro's head. "You want to date her?"

"Duh!" Another finger poked into his chest.

" _There is no way Kurosaki or Kurosaki... or taicho for that matter would put up with this guy dating Kurosaki._ " The small white haired boy took a deep breath. "As if I would let you date her."

"You little punk. Consider us enemies from here on out." Jinta turned from that spot and walked away while the other male students stared at the two, gossiping as they did so. He took a deep breath, tugging at the uniform. He followed them out to the track, trying to back away from the others as he listened to the instructions from the teacher.

Looking out of the corner of his eye he saw that Karin was off with the girls doing something different so she couldn't tell him what he should do in this situation. He didn't want to participate, but he also didn't want to tell the teacher no. He also didn't want to stand out. He suddenly sensed a hollow and took out the candy that would separate himself from his gigai without making people think he was dead. He stepped away so that people wouldn't see two of him.

Turning to the soul in the gigai he spoke carefully. "Stay hidden. I've got to take care of a hollow. Don't go to far."

The small captain flash stepped onto the room and moved quickly to the spot and brought out his shikai. Clouds gathered around him, piercing the heat with a pure cold. He sliced through the Hollow mask and watched it disappear. He placed his blade back on his back when a voice caused him to jump. Turning his head he saw that Rangiku was glaring at him. "Matsumoto..."

"Taicho... you're supposed to be in school." The woman folded her arms around her ample chest.

"Yes..."

"And why are you not?"

"Hollow..."

"Are Hollows more important then school."

"Of course they are!" Toshiro felt his shoulders tense and the temperature dropped even more.

The woman let out a deep sigh. "Guess what? I can take care of that. You got it?"

"Yes..." The boy looked away. "I don't like classes."

Rangiku's facial features softened. "I know. It's boring."

"We're in the physical education class right now... I don't really want to go back. I figure my soul candy can hide somewhere stupid and nobody can find me."

"Why are you worried about that? You excel at sports. Actually, you excel at academics."

"I don't want to stand out. I stand out enough as it is with my hair and my eyes."

The woman sighed. "Get back. No excuses. I'll handle things."

"That kind of worries me." Toshiro slipped back and found his gigai behind the bushes. He headed back to the track only to find himself being chewed out by the teacher for taking off. He found himself glancing to the side.

"So where were you?"

"Bathroom..."

"Next time tell me if you need to go. Don't take off like that." Toshiro looked away. The teacher continued. "I would normally have you make up and do additional laps around the track, but it is your first day. Consider yourself forewarned."

The boy headed back with the others to change, slipping into the nasty bathroom and hurrying out. Someone made a comment about the fact he was unable to change in front of other guys. He felt himself clenching his teeth. Karin walked up to him as they walked back to class. "You went after a Hollow?"

"Yes..."

"You skipped class."

"Yes..."

"Why? You should know that Matsumoto-san can take care of things."

"I don't know."

"You do know."

"I'm not comfortable around people." He paused for a few minutes. "The locker room stinks." Karin suddenly laughed at this comment. "What's so funny?"

"You. You don't act like a normal guy."


	5. Bullied

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Write a chapter in which a character bullies or is bullied during or after school.

Classes were finally over and Toshiro found himself being handed a couple pieces of paper by the teacher to look over that night at home. He slipped the paper into his bag without actually looking at it and headed down the stairs to the shoe locker area to switch out his school shoes for the shoes he would be using to head home. He slipped off his regular shoes and reached in to grab his other pair of shoes. He set them in and began to put his foot in, only to suddenly flinch.

He pulled his foot out of the shoe and saw a thumb tack stuck in his foot. " _Why? Why am I the target of being bullied? I never did anything wrong to those people, even back in the Rukongai._ "

Gritting his teeth he pulled it out and proceeded to dump the thumb tacks out of the shoe into the palm of his hand before shaking the other shoe. Slipping the one foot on he set it down and winced, jumping nearly out of his skin. He looked over his shoulder at Karin, blinking a couple of times. "Ah... Kurosaki."

"You all right Toshiro."

"I just need to use the restroom."

"You really need to come up with a better excuse. Yuzu says to stop by for dinner."

"Matsumoto's expecting me to be back at Inoue's apartment and eating with them. Sorry." Toshiro gave her a weak smile."

"Orihime huh? I feel bad for you, knowing how bad her cooking can be. I hope for your sake she has a lucky accident."

"Me too..." Toshiro closed his eyes as she left, then opened them to double check. He walked to the bathroom without limping as he had learned to deal with such injuries in his fights with Hollows. This didn't change the fact it hurt. He pushed himself up onto one of the sinks and removed the shoe and proceeded to clean the injury, hissing at the sharp pain.

" _You should have Matsumoto look at that?"_

" _And let her, Ukitake and Kyoraku know I'm being bullied? Despite the fact I honestly don't like this I know they mean it for my own good."_ Toshiro continued to wash off his foot in a sink to the side of the sink he was sitting on, only to pause as the door opened. Three boy's stepped in.

"I can't believe that you fell for that." Toshiro recognized the boy who was speaking as the boy with freckles who had been glaring at him.

"I can't believe you're actually coming in and admitting that you were the one who stuck tacks into my shoe."

"I haven't admitted anything." The boy's fist made contact with his face while he remained sitting on the sink.

"Well... you had to have at least known who did it." Toshiro suddenly felt the front of his school uniform grabbed by the other boy. He felt himself pulled off the sink. The boy was taller then him, so his feet didn't touch the ground.

"And what are you going to do about it? Do you really think that teacher's are going to believe some punk kid who bleaches his hair. You're some weirdo, dressing in the bathroom instead of the main part of the locker room."

"Hey... Hashigami..." The boy with glasses pushed his glasses up.

"What is it Ino?"

"There are scars on his stomach area, they look rather nasty."

Toshiro looked down and noticed that his shirt had ridden up revealing the lower part of the scars where he had been cut and burned. He looked away. " _This is exactly why I didn't want to change in front of them. That, and I don't like people seeing me naked._ "

"He's got to have gotten that from some gang fight or something."

"Shut up Kaneda!" Hashigami snapped. "You saw how he reacted to Hanakari. He acted nervous around him. He's afraid of him even more then we are."

The white haired boy titled his head slightly, his eyes widening in confusion."I'm a bit confused. Do the three of you actually think that because you're bigger then me that you can actually physically harm me?"

"I already did, didn't I cosplay freak?"

Toshiro looked at the boy. "What is cosplay?"

Kaneda let out a laugh. "He doesn't know what costume play was but we saw him running around like... like..."

"... a person in historical dress." Ino piped up. "And at school none the less."

" _Do they remember yesterday despite the memory modification yesterday?_ "

"And skipping class."

" _Nope. They saw me today. Even if they hadn't I would have the fact they can see ghosts on them, but this means that they had to have been skipping as well._ " Toshiro's eyes narrowed and he felt the corner of his mouth twist up. "So... on top of skipping class today the three of you are actually able to ghosts, aren't you." Toshiro watched as their faces paled. "You know..."

The door to the bathroom suddenly banged open and Jinta came into the room. "What are you three doing?"

"It's none... none of your businessmen... Hanakari."

"Yes, well... it looks like you're picking on him."

"I can take care of myself Hanakari."

"Sure. You've already got a black eye and you're dangling so that your feet can't touch the ground."

"So? I can take care of myself."

"Yeah... you're a pacifist." Jinta cracked his knuckles. "You and I may be enemies for the princesses affections, but the boss would be upset if I left you like this."

"You do realize that you're sounding like a moron."

"Shut up shrimp. I trying to help you out."

"Shrimp?" Toshiro felt one side of his mouth twist up and suddenly twitch. The temperature in the room began to drop and the windows began to frost over.

"Are you guys going to put him down or not? I'd really like to muss..."

"Hanakari! What are you trying to do!"

Toshiro's teal eyes narrowed at the teacher that now stood in the doorway. "You and your friends trying to beat a smaller kid up again?"

Hashigami suddenly stammered. "We... we... have nothing..."

Ino spoke up for him. "We don't have anything to do with Hanakari sir."

"Yes. But Hashigami is holding that one kid up in the air."

"That's because Hitsugaya and Hanakari were going to beat us up sir!" Kaneda lied, causing his two friends to glare at him.

"Detention! Now, all five of you! I don't have time to deal with this kind of trouble."

" _Great... I didn't do anything wrong._ " Toshiro rolled his eyes to the ceiling in annoyance. " _School really stinks. Matsumoto's also going to be mad that I'm not home in time._ "


	6. Detention

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Six: Write a chapter in which a character bullies or is bullied during or after school.

Toshiro reached down to pick up his sock and shoe off the floor and slipped it on before hobbling the first two steps after the other four boys and the teacher. None of the other boys were happy about the situation and they all took seats in various desks. The teacher went and sat up at the front and looked out the window while his head lay in his arms. His eyes glazed over and he wished he had his piece of string.

He could hear the three boys whining about the situation, only to hear a loud thump of someone slamming their feet onto the top of the desk and the yelps the three boys let out. He turned his head to see Jinta was glaring at the three boys. Hashigami glared at him. "I don't get it. Why did you stand up for that cosplaying freak?"

Jinta's eye went up. "Cosplay?"

"They saw me in my Shinigami form." Toshiro piped up with his head still on the desk.

"Shinigami form?" Ino began to laugh. "That's what you call your stupid cosplaying?"

The red head cracked his knuckles as he made a face. "Need some memory modification about the subject of seeing Shinigami?"

Hashigami began to stammer again. "Seriously... why are you standing up for him?"

"Why indeed?" Toshiro sat up and leaned on his elbow, glaring at the three boys. "Do the three of you understand what it means to see Shinigami?" He couldn't help but notice that the teacher wasn't paying any attention to what was going on. "It implies that you can see ghosts."

Kaneda paled. "Nuh-uh. How can that work?"

"Are you guys idiots? Shinigami are ghosts."

Hashigami sighed. "You two are just trying to pull our legs. We don't... we don't see anything like ghosts."

"Really..." Toshiro turned his head away and pointed his finger at Ino who was eyeballing a ghost that had just come into the room. "He's staring at one right now."

"That's just Ino's thing." Hashigami laughed nervously.

"Yeah!" Kaneda replied only to be also staring at the ghost. Hashigami turned his head to see the ghost and stare as well.

"Uh-huh... sure." Jinta rolled his eyes. "Hitsugaya's right. The three of you do see ghosts. You're all morons."

Ino suddenly startled and to look at the red head boy. "You're only agreeing with him because it allows you to bully us. Normally you bully him too."

"Bully him? You have got to be kidding." A glare from the teacher who was busy reading caused him

Hashigami glared at Jinta. "Oh come on. He acted nervous when you talked to him in the locker room."

Jinta twisted up his lip before turning his head to look at Toshiro. "What was that about? When you first saw me?"

"You had a growth spurt in the last year, I didn't." Toshiro turned to look out the window.

"Ah... your height complex." Jinta let out a laugh. "You were jealous. You're actually jealous which means that the reason you threatened me was because you stood no chance with the Princess."

The temperature in the room dropped. "Oh... well you're rather right calling her a princess. She is after all a daughter of the Shiba clan after all." Toshiro turned his head to see Jinta suddenly pale. "Should I add she's the daughter of the head as well?" He then turned to look at the red head in the eye. "The Shiba clan is family to me. Even if I didn't know she was a member of the Shiba clan I owe Kurosaki and Kurosaki that much. Got it?"

Jinta swallowed this time. Kaneda blinked a couple of times. "Wait... I thought it was Hitsugaya who was afraid of Hanakari, not the other way around."

Ino pushed his glasses up. "Come on... he's smaller then us."

"Yeah... well... looks can be deceiving. I mean..." Jinta suddenly froze as Karin appeared in the doorway.

"To...shi...ro!"

The boy blinked a couple of times. "Kurosaki?"

" _Don't_ Kurosaki me! Orihime called the house asking why you weren't home. I get here and find out your in detention. You've also got a black eye! What the hell happened?"

"Nothing..." Toshiro looked away.

"Well, I've come to make sure you get your butt home, got it."

"Ms. Kurosaki..." The teacher snapped his book closed. "All five of them are in detention. I can't let him go."

"Toshiro's got a black eye. What did he do to any of the guys here?"

Ino pointed at Jinta. "Hitsugaya was helping him bully us."

Karin quickly moved over to Toshiro and began to pull on the boy's cheeks. "To...shi...ro!"

"I'm fine."

"A black eye?" Toshiro looked away. The girl frowned. "Yeah... I thought so. That isn't the only injury. You stupid idiot!" Her foot quickly came down onto his injured foot and he let out a yelp, pulling it away from her. Her eyes widened in surprise. "Looks like I got lucky. Let me look at it."

"What ever for?" Toshiro felt his eyes starting to water up only to have the shoe yanked off.

"Sheesh." The girl placed the foot back on before hiking her thumb at Toshiro. "If you don't mind I'm going to take him to my dad's clinic." She then turned to look at Jinta. "Did the teacher actually catch you guys doing anything bad?"

"Nope?"

"Then why are you all here?"

"The teacher said we had detention." Ino piped up.

"Well... you four are idiots, but you Toshiro... you didn't do anything wrong. Why did you let the teacher put you into detention?"

The boy frowned, thinking about it carefully. "I guess I was bored. So... I just went with the flow of things."

Jinta heard the answer before bursting out in laughter. "Gosh! You are so naive!" The boy paused. "Wait... you sure we can just go?"

Karin looked at the teacher. "What did you see?"

"I saw five guys roughing each other up."

"And _what_ is your definition of that? Did they punch each other?"

"Hitsugaya had a black eye and was being lifted up off his feet by Hashigami."

"Sounds like you've got a case with those guys..."

"He doesn't." Toshiro stood up. "I very well could have gotten a black eye some other time and he could have been simply roughing me up with no intention of ill intent. Even the other thing may not have been them."

Karin sighed, glaring at the front of the room. "You guys are lucky. Come on Toshiro."

The two headed out and ended up at Isshin's clinic. The man took a look at the boy's foot. "Toshiro..."

"I'm fine."

"Yeah..." The man wrapped the foot up. "If any of the kids at Karin and Yuzu's school are bullying you, then you need to speak up."

"I don't want the trouble."

"He also skipped P.E. to go and hunt down a Hollow."

Isshin took a deep breath before patting the boy on the head. "You know... it is all right to show of your abilities. You've always been good at athletics, academics... everything."

"Yeah... and that just ended up getting my bullied as a child."

Another deep breath was taken by his taicho. "I think you and I need to talk."


	7. School Club

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Three: Write a chapter in which a character reluctantly participates in an extracurricular activity.

"I think you and I need to talk." Isshin's tone of voice indicated exactly how serious he was and Toshiro's head darted down to look at the ground as his one foot remained propped up on the bed. Karin slipped out of the room.

"What do we need to talk about?" Toshiro looked away.

"I believe you said that your abilities ended up getting you bullied as a child."

"I must have miss spoke. I was made fun of because of my eyes and hair, my icy personality."

"You didn't miss speak." Isshin smiled at the boy. "I think you've hit on something important there."

Toshiro looked at the ground. "Why would someone..." The boy paused, clenching his teeth. "It doesn't make any sense. Why would people make fun of someone because of their abilities?"

"Jealousy?" Isshin watched as the boy let out a sound if disbelief. "I guess you wouldn't see that as you've always seen your gifts as a curse. Think about it carefully. Now get your butt over to Orihime's place. Rangiku's worried sick about you. You've also got homework to do." The man watched the boy make a face. "I know. It's boring. The sooner you get it done, the better." The man patted him on the shoulder. "You also don't have to put up with people bulling you either."

Toshiro let out a sigh and swung his bag over his shoulder and headed back to Orihime's apartment. He opened the door and walked in, only to find himself glomped by his fukutaicho. "Matsumoto!"

"Why didn't you come home sooner?" Rangiku suddenly placed hands on either sides of the boy's face. "You didn't go after Hollows did you? You aren't avoiding me?"

"I'm not..." The boy's cheeks flushed as he pulled away from her. He quickly kicked off his shoes and headed over to Orihime's coffee table to get out his homework. As he opened up his bag he noticed the pieces of papers the teacher had given to him. He started to look at it, only to let out a yelp as Rangiku grabbed his injured foot. The papers slipped off the table towards Orihime.

"Taicho?"

Toshiro heard the irritation in her voice. "Taicho bandaged it up."

"But what happened?"

The boy looked away. "I had an issue with some other students. It's resolved."

Orihime picked up the papers. "Toshiro-kun... what club are you going to be in?"

"What?" Toshiro's teal eyes suddenly widened. "I don't want to participate in any clubs."

Rangiku picked up the pieces of paper and looked them over. I don't think you have a choice."

"What do you mean I don't have a choice?"

The woman tapped the paper with her hand before handing it back to him. "Clubs are mandatory."

"They weren't mandatory at Academy." The boy folded his arms across his chest.

The woman blinked a couple of times. "I think it would have done you some good." The woman sat down next to him. "What about these boys picking on you at school?"

Toshiro looked at the ceiling. "I don't think I'll be having a problem with them. Kurosaki took care of it."

"So what club are you going to join?" Rangiku leaned close as he looked at the form.

"There isn't a list of clubs." The boy stood up.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Toshiro flinched at the sound of the woman's voice. "I'm not taking off on you. I'm calling Kurosaki to ask her about school clubs."

"Why don't you ask her out on a date while you're at it?"

Toshiro's eyes widened as his cheeks flushed a deep, deep red. "Matsumoto!" He tore out of the room as Rangiku laughed and Orihime stared in confusion. He headed up to the roof and dialed the number of Karin's phone. "Kurosaki?"

" _Toshiro... why are you calling me?_ "

"I'm supposed to pick out a club for school."

" _How about we talk in the classroom before the beginning of class?_ _Meet me there an hour early._ "

"Don't I have to turn this in tomorrow? An hour doesn't seem like much time."

" _You should have a week to turn it in even though you'_ _re a transfer student._ "

"I'll see you tomorrow." Toshiro clicked the phone off and headed inside.

"So?" Rangiku winked at the boy. "How did it go?"

"She said she would speak to me tomorrow about clubs." The boy sat down at the table. "I'm going to finish my homework so I can head to bed. He realized after a few pages of homework that Rangiku was watching him. "What?"

"You acting like a normal middle school student is so cute!"

"Matsumoto!"

**M**

Toshiro arrived before the hour mark and sat in his desk, his foot tapping because of anxiety. The clock ticked away and hit the time mark he and Karin were supposed to meet. His throat tightened at not seeing her. She came through the door a few minutes later. "You're late!"

The girl looked up. "You know... normally I would consider that rude, but I caught panic in your voice."

"I thought..." The boy looked at the ground, his cheeks flushing up.

"I'm late because I stopped by the teacher's lounge for a list of clubs for you to look over." Karin set the paper down onto his desk. "Why not just join the soccer club? Wouldn't that be the easiest choice? I mean, you're good at it and you enjoy playing it."

Toshiro's eyes brightened up. "I would get to play soccer with you?"

"No..." Karin watched his face falter. "The girls and boys have different clubs."

"Why?"

"Girls and boys compete at different leagues."

"Why?"

Karin stared him right in the eye. "Guys don't like playing with girls."

"I do."

"You're abnormal in that regard."

"There is something you're _not_ telling me."

"Toshiro... why do _you_ think girls and boy's should be allowed to play with each other and complete with each other?"

"Females are just as good as the males. From my experience many of the females are better then the males."

"I thought so. Guys in the living world actually aren't used to getting their buts kicked by girls. If a girl is able to kick a guys but she gets a bad reputation as being... well... insufferable."

"Do you have that reputation?"

"Yes."

"That isn't right." Toshiro looked at the slip of paper. "I honestly don't want to join a club that treat male and females differently."

"Well... that eliminates all of the sports clubs for you, except for the marital arts. Even those clubs have a barrier between most of the girls and the boys."

"Why?"

"Most of the girls are there to learn self-defense, not to fight competitively."

"What club are you in?"

"I'm in the soccer club, the kendo club and the karate club."

"So... a person can join more then one club?"

"Yes."

"So the reason you have another blank form isn't in case we mess up on mine?"

"I know how your not very comfortable with people, so I know you really don't want to join club. I'll join up to make things easier on you. Anything else perk your interest?"

"By that you mean?"

"What kind of things do you do with your free time?"

"I don't have free time."

"All right. Is there anything you do besides Shinigami work."

"Other then visiting my grandmother? I sculpt ice... but that's for a publication. I write for that stupid newspaper was well. All the taicho and fukutaicho have to. I draw, read."

"So... basically anything would do."

Toshiro's eyes looked down the list and his finger suddenly pointed at a particular club. "The school has a club for Japanese Culture."

Karin let out a rather annoyed sound. "That club? They do traditional tea ceremonies, flower arrangement... that kind of thing."

"Traditional dance?" Toshiro's eyes suddenly brightened.

The girl looked up, blinking a couple of times. "Yes. Well... I'm not actually sure, but I would guess so."

"You have a rather bored look on your face." The white haired youth began to look over the other choices.

"I saw the look on your face. It's that look you get when someone offers you ammanatto, except it lasted longer as you weren't trying to hide your enjoyment."

Toshiro glanced away, his cheeks flushing slightly. "I'd really like to join the same club as you though. I mean, if I have to be stuck in a club... and you're not interested."

"I might as well learn something new. Let's go and visit the Japanese Culture club. The club room is open both in the morning and the evening."

"Are you sure Kurosaki."

"Why not? I've wanted to learn more about you and the things you like rather then just introducing you to things I like. It's a nice change." The girl stood up and motioned for him to follow her.

Upon arriving at the club room Toshiro's eyes widened and a small smile spread on his face, almost as if he were in a candy store. The room was decked out in a traditional manner with tatami mats. A girl was busy with a tea set and looked up at the two of them, frowning. The girl dressed in a kimono. "Kurosaki, what are you doing here? I expected your sister to come around this club, but not you."

Toshiro felt the color leave his face and grabbed Karin's sleeve. "I don't want to be in this club after all."

Karin rolled her eyes and grabbed the back of his shirt. "Toshiro. I can take care of myself you know. You were quite interested in this club. Come on."

"You're interested?" The girl messing with the tea set suddenly stopped glaring at Karin. "You want to join? I apologize for my statement."

The white haired youth blinked a couple of times before looking at Karin in confusion. "Do you really want to know? Actually... you don't, so leave it at that."

"Sempai... we have a couple of students looking to join the club." The female turned her head towards a screen that split the room.

An older male peeked around the other side of screen. "We're the only two here today. I'm the president of the club though. You..."

Toshiro flinched as the boy paused, looking the boy up and down. "Is something the matter?"

"You're Hitsugaya Toshiro, the new student. It's hard not to place you as not many students have white hair. There are a few males that seem to know you that thought you would be joining the soccer club. They even bragged about your athletic ability."

Karin let out a groan of annoyance. "I'll have a talk with them later Toshiro."

"So... you're not joining the soccer club? Wouldn't that be your first choice?"

"Kurosaki explained to me that male and females don't compete in soccer on equal terms."

"Isn't that normal."

"Truth be told I've only really played soccer with Kurosaki and her friends, though I used to play with someone who taught me the basics a long time ago."

"You speak like you're an old man."

"Toshiro is... a bit old fashioned." Karin's voice strained.

"You said you can defend yourself Kurosaki-san. Let him defend himself." The older boy smiled. "Are you two girlfriend and boyfriend, which is why you're joining the club together."

Toshiro's throat tightened, his cheeks flushing up. "We're not dating! Why does..."

Karin tugged on his sleeve. "It's all right."

"Yes... well, saying you're not dating isn't the same as saying you don't have a crush on her." The boy watched as Toshiro flinched. "Though so. Why don't you come around to this side of the screen. We have tables set up."

Toshiro's tension left. "Wait... isn't it traditional for a tea ceremony to be done without a table?"

"We actually do both the older tradition as well as the tea tradition that occurred when Japan ended up industrializing. The idea behind the club is to explore all aspects of Japanese culture from a historical perspective."

"So... the Western tea ceremony?" Karin watched as Toshiro's brightened.

"That is a rather odd way to word it, but yes." The older boy sat at the table in a traditional manner.

"Traditional dance?" Toshiro asked as he and Karin took seats near the table.

"Traditional dance is a very hard discipline to learn. We don't have the facilities to learn it nor the teachers. Not to mention the fact many of the members of this club don't have the stamina or strength either. Tea ceremonies and flower arrangements, that's the gist of things." The boy folded his arms. "We do discuss it as a subject and go to watch the dances though. Do you preform traditional dance?"

"A couple of times. I'm still in training."

"Flower arrangement?"

"I'm trained in that as well."

"Trained..." The other boy smiled. "So... who were your teachers."

Toshiro opened his mouth only to have the spark in his eyes suddenly dim. "Most of my teachers have actually passed on. In fact, three of them passed on in the last month."

"Sorry..." The other boy tapped his fingers against his shoulders. "The reason you don't want to be in the soccer club? It's because you can't play with Kurosaki here?"

"Yes. It is actually."

"That's reasonable." The boy watched Toshiro blink a couple of times. "Don't worry about it. I'm guessing if Kurosaki wasn't here you wouldn't be able to speak to me either?"

Karin took a deep breath. "Come on. Toshiro's not that anti-social."

"Then why are you joining the club as well?" The boy watched her suddenly flinch. He suddenly laughed, switching from a traditional position to a less polite one with one knee raised despite wearing a kimono. "Don't worry! I wasn't implying I thought my Hitsugaya wouldn't want anything to do with if you weren't here. He may come across as having an icy personality because of his appearance, but in reality he's shy around other people."

"I think that's a horrible reason to join, joining only because another student joined the club. We get enough of that with the boys." The girl who had greeted them blurted out.

"It's not the only reason. Toshiro really lights up about this. I want to learn more."

"As if you could pass for a noble."

"She could if she wanted to." Toshiro piped up. "Of course, it depends on ones view point of how the nobility acts as well as females among the nobility act. It's not all pomp and circumstance, but even if it was..."

"Toshiro... we've had similar conversations before about me dressing more like a girl." Karin snapped as the temperature in the room suddenly began to rise.

"Gomenasai..."

The male looked at the ceiling. "Do you know how to play traditional instruments?"

"Yes."

"Amazing. You act though like it's been expected of you except for the traditional dance." The boy looked at Toshiro. "When you performed, was it female roles?"

"Excuse me?" Karin snapped again and the temperature in the room rose some more.

Toshiro blinked a couple of times. "His question wasn't insulting Kurosaki."

A giggle came from the other side of the screen causing Karin to glare at the girl on the other side. "It isn't?"

"No. It's actually harder for a male dancer to be given a female role as most males lack the natural grace females have and they have to train for it."

"So..." Karin opened her mouth to ask whether he danced the female roles or not, only to have the school bell ring. "Shoot... we're late for class."

"The form." Toshiro pointed at the form.

"This club?"

"I have to join a club. It's mandatory, remember."

"Fine. We're late anyways." The two quickly scribbled down the information on the form and handed it them. Karin tugged at Toshiro's sleeve to get him to hurry.

"What exactly happens when a person is late?"

"You've never been late to class before?"

"No. Not once at the academy, not once while observing your brothers class."

"We stand in the hall. Sometimes we're made to hold a bucket of water. It's rather humiliating because everyone in school typically knows by the end of the day." Karin saw the look on Toshiro's face, his skin having turned pale. "You almost never get into trouble, do you."

"No. Not really."

"This is going to be a major blow for you isn't it?"

"Don't know." The boy looked at the ground. "I really don't like it."

The two arrived and Karin made the choice to open the door instead of Toshiro. The boy heard some of the boy's giggle as well as whispers of the two doing _it_ together, what ever _it_ was. He wasn't sure if asking Karin was a good idea. The teacher glared at the two of them, only to pause suddenly and his eyes widened. Toshiro turned to see the president of the Japanese Culture club standing behind them now in his school uniform.

"Apologies for these two being late sensei. They were discussing clubs with me as Hitsugaya-kun is looking for a club to join since he's new." The boy took off then and the teacher waved the two in.

"If it is club related it can't be helped."

Toshiro went and sat at his seat. "Is that normal?"

"Yes... sometimes the morning clubs run late. Most teachers are lenient in that matter."

"Oh..."

One of Karin's friends leaned over. "Hey... Toshiro. Did you talk to the captain of the soccer team about joining the soccer club? Is that why he skipped out on practice today?"

The boy blinked a couple of times in confusion. "No..."

He looked at Karin who let out a sigh. "The captain of the Japanese Culture club is also the captain of both the soccer team and the kendo team. He's known for skipping practice a lot... he's quite eccentric."

"I'm rather used to that." Toshiro though of the various captains and fukutaicho of the Gotei and shook his head while Karin's friends tried complaining about him not joining the soccer club. The teacher quickly put a stop to that.


	8. Yeah Right

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Four: Write a chapter in which a character undergoes an initiation into a clique or elite social group.

The club president stopped by while Karin and Toshiro were eating lunch in the school court yard asking them if they could stop by the club after classes were done for the day. Yuzu's interest perked up and asked if the Japanese Culture club also explored the foods and clothing to which the answer was an affirmative. This caused her to say she needed to stop by as well, but not before Karin and she stopped by some of their other clubs.

Toshiro slipped out of their classroom at the end of the day and dialed the Rangiku's number. She picked up on the other side. " _Please tell me you're coming home. You worried me yesterday._ "

The boy swallowed, wondering how she would react to the idea of him participating in a club. "Actually... I'm going to spend some time in the Japanese Culture class room. That is all right, isn't it? I mean... I'm supposed to participate in a club. It isn't optional."

" _You found a club you're interested in?_ " Rangiku's voice let out a slight squel, causing him to hold the phone away. " _Yes! Of course you can stay. Mama's happy!_ "

"You're not my mother Matsumoto." He heard a cough on the other side. "Fine. You're close enough to be my mother." He heard another sound. "That wasn't what you wanted to hear?"

" _Can you pretend I'm your mother for school?_ "

"That..." Toshiro paused. "Why?" Silence followed. "Never mind. I need to think about this. It's almost as if... never mind. That's silly."

The boy hung up the phone and let out a deep sigh. He headed to the classroom and let out a deep sigh. Stepping around to the side he saw a note left on the table.

_Hitsugaya-kun  
~ I have to take care of things at the soccer club. Certain people wish to chew me out for skipping this morning. There is something else I have to talk some people for. I think you would enjoy having the club to yourself though. There are some kimonos in the closet as well as tea sets. Feel free to get yourself acquainted with your surroundings.  
~ Sincerely,  
Club President_

"No name." Toshiro sat down at the table, leaning back and relaxing. " _I like how this place smells like home._ "

His eyes snapped upon upon hearing his first name being said by a male. He turned his head to see one of Karin's friends peeking behind the Japanese screen. "What do you want?"

"We want to know if you want to hang out with us." Toba smirked at him.

"Not really. Shouldn't you be at the soccer club?" Toshiro looked at the male with his partially bleached hair.

"Why?"

"The club president is at the soccer club apparently."

"That's because he always gets chewed out." Toujin spoke up from the other side.

The corners of Toshiro's mouth twisted down. "Why are all four of you here?"

"We want to hang out. It's rather cool you're going to the same school as us." The boy smiled, only to falter in his facial feature when Toshiro didn't respond. "You don't want to hang out?"

"I told you I don't. I was rather enjoying the quiet."

"Oh come on. You really want to be a part of our group. We brought something to show you."

"I don't want to see it." Toshiro closed his eyes. "I just want to enjoy the quiet."

He felt something be placed in front of his face but didn't open his eyes. Toba continued to speak. In fact, he was doing most of the talking. "I don't get why you would want to be in this club."

"Excuse..." The white haired youth opened his eyes only to let out a string of curses at what he saw.

"Nice, huh?"

Toshiro pushed the magazine away. "Get that thing away from me."

"Ah! Come on. All of the guys in our group look through these things." Usaka piped up from the other side of the screen.

"Hey? What's going on in here?" The voice of the club president caused the boy's to flinch. The older male stepped over and grabbed the magazine, looking at the inside. "You know... if a teacher catches you guys with this you're in a lot of trouble." The boy's grin suddenly widened. "Plus, I don't appreciate you guys introducing my innocent kohei to things like this."

The small captain reached a hand up to scratch his head. "I'm actually rather aware of that kind of thing."

"Really?" The tone of voice of the physically older male changed to one of surprise. Voices were heard coming towards the class room.

"I'm not sure if he'll be happy about you showing up Rangiku-san," Karin said.

"Him participating in an activity with others though..." Rangiku's voice pierced the silence. "... I want to see it! It's so cute!"

Toshiro muttered a few curses before standing up. "Why did Matsumoto have to come?"

He stepped towards the door only to find himself crashing into the woman which caused her to give him a big bear hug and cause him to try and struggle out of her grip. He could hear Karin's friend Toba speaking up behind him. "Lucky..."

"You perverts," Karin snapped.

Toshiro pried himself away finally to see that Yuzu was with the other two females. A rather worried look was on her face. "Toshiro... I've been wondering since this woman walked up... who is she?"

"We live together." Rangiku blurted out with a smile on her face.

"Really lucky..." Toba kept looking her up and down.

"Live together..." Yuzu stammered.

"It's not what you think Kurosaki."

"It's not what it looks like?" Usaka pushed up his glasses. "Sounds like a relationship that could get you in trouble with school."

"What?" Toshiro sighed. " _She did this on purpose, to get me to say this._ " He closed his eyes. "She's my mother."

"Come on," Kei suddenly sniffed, causing Toshiro to flinch. "The two of you don't look like each other."

"That's because he looks like his father."

" _Like my father._.. _"_ Toshiro blinked a couple of times. "Wait..."

"I didn't lie to you."

"You..." The boy looked away. "You can be so aggravating you know." He glanced at the wall. " _I also have no reason to believe you._ "

Rangiku noticed the book in the club presidents hands, her finger pointing at the item as well as her tone rising. "What is that?"

"This..." The club president frowned. "Hitsugaya-kun's friends brought this in here."

"They're not my friends." Toshiro looked away.

"You guys showed him that kind of garbage?" Rangiku glared at the boys in a manner that caused them to shrink back. She picked up the magazine and ripped it in half. "See what I think of that?"


	9. Crushed Crush

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One: Write a chapter in which a character is caught passing notes in class.

In some ways Toshiro feared Rangiku going off on him about looking at _that_ particular kind of magazine, but in reality she didn't. He also didn't want to ask about his parentage. In truth... in some ways he didn't want to know. It was just one more thing for him to worry about and he had enough on his mind with thinking about the zombie incident. When they arrived at the apartment he was surprised to find Rangiku and Orihime asking him questions about the club. He was also surprised at the ease at which it all came out.

"You must be really interested in this taicho." Rangiku smirked.

" _If she's my mother why is she calling me taicho?_ " Toshiro shook his head and tole them he was going to go to bed. The next morning he arrived at school and sat down. The teacher came into the room and walked up to the board and wrote the words " _sports day_ " Toshiro turned his head to look at Karin. "What is sports day?"

"It's a day where the different classes compete with each other?"

One of Karin's friends spoke up then. "You've never heard of sports day."

"So... these are the categories. Do we have any nominees?"

"Wait..." Toshiro blinked a couple of times as Karin's friends raised their hands.

"You guys..." Karin hissing at them didn't stop them from volunteering Toshiro, his face suddenly paling.

He turned his head to look around the class and noticed a group of girls gossiping with each other, giggling their heads off. A piece of paper suddenly hit his desk. Looking down he saw that it was folded into a triangle. He flicked it away, only to see another. He repeated it again, only to have a third tossed at him. In annoyance he opened it up and read the note.

" _Do you like Kurosaki Karin?_ "

He felt his cheeks suddenly heat up, a deep blush spreading as he crushed up the letter. The teacher of course unfortunately saw him and took the paper from him and read the note out loud. A slew of giggles came from the other students and comments of "he really does like her" as well.

The teacher sighed. "I apologize Hitsugaya-kun, but you're not allowed to be passing letters in class."

"He wasn't the one doing the passing." Karin piped up, causing his face to turn even redder. "That's the third that he received. He really was trying to ignore them."

"So who..."

Toshiro stood up then and slid from the classroom and headed to the roof where he slid down against the wall, pulling his knees to his chest. Eventually he calmed down and dialed the number on his phone. " _Ukitake Taicho._ "

"I want to come home."

" _Shiro-chan? Why aren't you in class?_ "

"I got volunteered for the sports day that is tomorrow."

" _That's wonderful. We'll come and see you._ "

"What?"

" _Students families come to watch sports day._ "

"Yes. But I can't compete. I mean, we can't interfere."

"Nonsense. _You're there to have fun._ "

"You... did you plan this to coincide with this?"

" _Yes. We did._ "

"That isn't the only thing that happened. Some girl tried passing me notes in class and the teacher read them."

" _So?_ "

"What it said was embarrassing?"

" _What did it say?_ "

"It asked if I was... if I liked Kurosaki." The boy let out a sigh. "It asked if I liked Karin. _"_

" _Was it embarrassing because you like her or because you figured Ichigo and Isshin would flip?_ "

"Yes, yes, no."

" _Yes, yes, no..._ "

"It's not as if Taicho would have a problem with me dating his daughter. He..." Toshiro frowned. "He's going to be at sports day, isn't he?"

" _Very likely..._ "

"I'm dead. There is no way I can..."

Ukitake suddenly laughed. " _Are you saying that you're going to die of embarrassment?_ "

"Yes. I think he already thinks of me as his son-in-law."

" _Surely it isn't that bad._ "

"You know him. You know it is likely that bad."

" _Or you're seeing things the way you want. Go back to class._ "

Toshiro stood up and headed back down the stairs. The girl who had been caught passing the note was standing outside the classroom. He blinked a couple of times realizing that it was the girl from the Japanese Culture club. He took a deep breath and stepped into the classroom and bowed to the teacher. "I apologize for leaving the class abruptly like that. I'll take what ever punishment is deemed necessary."

"Hitsugaya-kun... please just take your seat. I apologize for reading the note out loud like that. Next time a student passes you a note let me know instead of reading it, all right?"

"Yes mam." Toshiro went and sat down, only to hear more giggling. His head bowed down as he felt the embarrassment coming on again, but then heard some specific comments.

"He's such a gentleman."

"Kind of like a samurai."

This helped a bit.


	10. Sports Day

Toshiro woke up the next day to see Rangiku beaming at him. "I'm guessing you're looking forward to today?"

"To see my cute taicho during his sports day? Of course I'm excited. I missed out on a lot. In fact I forgot a lot, so..." Rangiku paused, her face suddenly darkening.

"Matsumoto?"

"Sorry. I just..." The woman looked at the wall.

"Don't. I guess this is something you and I will have to work out later."

"Oh!" Rangiku slammed her fist into the palm of her hand. "By the way... Kyoraku and Ukitake both called saying the only holding back you're allowed to do is to make sure you don't hurt people or damage the area. You're allowed to go all out."

"Reall?" Toshiro felt his voice crack. " _Today's not going to be fun._ "

"Orihime's skipping class to come and watch you too. She prepared a bento as well and is going to find a spot with that man. "

" _Stomach ache... she's means taicho... double stomach ache..._ " The boy stood up. "So... families eat lunch together?"

"Yes. They do."

"I'm not fond of Inoue's cooking. Eating together as a family though... that actually sounds nice."

"Don't worry. Yuzu's prepared an even bigger bento I heard. We can also try to get _him_ to eat all her food. Sound good?" Toshiro felt a laugh suddenly come out, only for himself to tense up. "I heard your crush on Karin came out yesterday."

"Yeah... I wasn't able to look her in the face the rest of the day. Particularly after I needed her help defending me from the teacher. It would have been better to just get detention for those notes."

"Your ego is getting the better of you."

Toshiro arrived at the school and headed to the locker room to change. He flinched though upon seeing Isshin dancing around with a large sign and various instruments for making noise. The man waved him over. "Toshiro!"

"What do you want old man?"

"Old?"

"You've aged since I last saw you and are 'old enough' to have an adult child. Seriously... you're an old man."

"Fine. Good luck today!" Isshin held out his thumb.

"By the way. If you try to hug me, or do anything embarrassing to me I will let you have it? Got it?"

"Come on Toshiro-kun. Mr. Kurosaki wouldn't do that." Orihime piped up with a smile on her face.

" _Yeah... right._ " Isshin gave him a thumbs up. Toshiro slipped in and changed in the locker room, glad nobody was there. He'd finished with the lower area and was changing the shirt when someone came in.

"Those are some pretty bad scars. I guess there is another reason you don't want to be on the team." Toshiro paled and pulled the shirt back down to see the Japanese Culture club president standing in front of him. "Don't worry. I come early to train so I can goof off in the club room. It's sports day... so, I'll keep an eye out for you."

Toshiro let out a sigh of relief as the older boy left. " _No questions. No, he likely has questions but he's too polite to ask._ " He headed out and joined his class, his body tensing up. Someone asked if he really could participate in as many activities and Karin's friends piped up he could. The teacher walked up to him.

"Hitsugaya-kun. I let them sign you up for quite a few things, so I do apologize."

"Don't worry about it." Toshiro turned to look over at the place Isshin had gotten. Rangiku had joined them with Kyoraku and Ukitake. Ise Nanao had also joined them as had Rukia and Ichigo. He palled upon recognizing Ganju and Kukaku there along with Ikkaku and Yumichika. " _How many people are going to be here?_ "

Karin leaned over. "Who are those other people. I recognize Rukia-nee and uncle."

"You could say that the guy with white hair is another uncle of yours as he grew up with your great-uncle and is like a brother to him. Not to mention he's just the kind of person to be kind to people as is the other person who planned on me coming to school. Ise Nanao is your cousin, the daughter of Kyoraku. I don't know if she's adopted or blood related. She's also Matsumoto's best friend. As for those two... they're your father's younger siblings."

"Really?" Yuzu suddenly turned her head. "What are their names?"

"Ganju and Kukaku..."

"Hi Aunti Ganju! Hello Uncle Kukaku!"

Toshiro felt his face suddenly pale. Ganju and Isshin both stood up. Kukaku looked like she would blow a gasket as well. Ganju waved his fist. "I'm a guy Yuzu-chan! Not a girl!"

"Yuzu-chan! You forgot to say hello to daddy?"

Yuzu blinked a couple of times. "Why would Uncle Kukaku say he's actually a guy? I got that."

Toshiro face palmed his forehead. "Your Aunt Ganju brought up the fact he was a guy because you refered to him as being a girl."

"Oh..."

"Sorry! When Toshiro-kun told me your names he didn't tell me which one was which!" Toshiro watched as the two males from the Shiba clan's faces fell while Kukaku burst out laughing. Yuzu turned to Toshiro. "It's nice to finally meet all of daddy's siblings."

"All... wait." Toshiro's comment was interrupted by a whistle and he found himself busy with the activities. Karin wanted to ask who the other two were. Asking was out of the question as she happened to be competing when Toshiro wasn't most of the time and by the time she got a chance again a few others had showed up. Byakuya and Renji had showed up along with Ukitake's two third seats. Uryu Isshida had show up with his father as had Chad and Tatsuki.

Finally things were over and the three walked over to sit with the 'family'. Toshiro could see Urahara off in another area. This wasn't surprising though as they would be Jinta's family. Jinta stormed over. "No fair! You get to eat Princess Yuzu's food."

"Oi..." Toshiro turned to glare at the boy. "I'm not in the mood."

"You beat our class as well! That's so not fair having you on their team."

"Seriously..."

"I will..."

"What's this about Princess Yuzu and eating her food?" Ganju glared at him.

"He has a crush on her."

"Get lost punk. Leave my niece alone. Won't let you near her."

"Ganju..." Kyoraku stated.

"But you would be fine with _him_ dating her?"

"Him? He's soul family. Got it."

"Actually... Toshiro-kun's not dating me. He's dating Karin."

"We're not dating!" Toshiro felt himself tugged down by the darker haired twin.

"People are staring." She watched as his cheeks flushed up. "So... who are the other people here?"

"That is Kuchiki's nii-sama. I don't know why those two are here other then to see me compete at something and tease me later. Abarai is Kuchiki's taicho. Actually... Ukitake is also Kuchiki's taicho."

"Oh! So Rukia's nii-chan is a taicho too! Cool!" Karin nodded her head.

Yuzu looked at Byakuya. "Since you're Rukia's nii-chan can we call you nii-chan as well?"

"I don't see why not." Ichigo and Renji splurted out their drinks, looking at the man in shock as he patted Yuzu on the head. "I remember when Rukia was this age."

Rukia sighed. "Nii-sama... I don't think I was ever that young in front of you."

Yuzu blinked a couple of times. "How is that possible?"

The younger Kuchiki blinked a couple of times. "Oh! I'm actually adopted into the Kuchiki clan. Nii-sama is also my brother-in-law as he married my older sister."

"How romantic! Daddy says that he owed mother for saving his life and that's how they ended up together. I love romantic stories." Yuzu turned to her aunt and uncle. "By the way! I'm also glad to finally meet all of daddy's siblings." A silence fell over the group. "Did I say something wrong?"

Toshiro let out a sigh as he reached to take some of the food from Yuzu's bento. "These aren't all of the Shiba-clan siblings. You're father's twin brother passed away, so you're not going to be able to meet him."

Toshiro blinked a couple of times as Yuzu suddenly went and hugged her father, paling at the antics of the two. "Daddy! I'm so sorry! I didn't know!"

"That's all right Yuzu-chan!"

"Well... at least we know where she gets it from." Kukaku sighed.

Isshin pulled away and suddenly scooped Toshiro up. "By the way..."

Toshiro instinctively brought his knee up to the man's chest. "What did I tell you about doing things like that!"

The entire school was staring, it felt like. Isshin though held up his thumb. "Nice job!"

"Baka!"


End file.
